Daniel Jones Camp Update — August 23: No Incompletions Against Atlanta
2026 NFL Season · Sunday, Aug 23
Daniel Jones completed every pass he threw in Wednesday's joint practice against the Falcons, per the team's notebook, eight months removed from his Achilles tear. Next up, per his coach: actual game snaps in the finale against Detroit.
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Daniel Jones did not throw an incompletion against Atlanta. In Wednesday's joint practice at Grand Park, the first of two against the Falcons, Jones completed everything he threw, with the only blemish a pass wiped out by a pass interference call, per JJ Stankevitz at the Colts' website. The charted highlights ran through Josh Downs — a tipped pass Downs caught for a touchdown, and a deep ball he hauled in. This was Jones's second straight week working against another team's starting defense, following the touchdown drive in Foxborough, and eight months removed from the December Achilles tear, the practice tape keeps refusing to show the injury.
The people around him have noticed, in almost those words. Downs, in Stankevitz's camp wrap: "I actually like forgot he had got injured before because he looks so good out there." The honest counterweight came from Jones himself, who acknowledged in the same piece that he has not yet reached his pre-injury top speed. The June read on Jones was that the pre-injury production was real and the tendon was the only question no pattern could price; August keeps answering the tendon question one environment at a time, and the environments keep getting harder.
He sat Saturday's game, a 34 to six loss to these same Falcons in which the vast majority of starters rested, per Stankevitz — the backups managed a hundred 71 total yards, and none of it involves Jones. The week's other addition was thrown his way deliberately: the Colts signed Keenan Allen on Wednesday, and Steichen's explanation centered on the quarterback — "He's the most cerebral receiver I've ever been around. He sees the game like a quarterback" — with an expectation of "a really smooth transition with those two," per Stankevitz.
The next test finally has a date. Steichen indicated the starters will play in Saturday's preseason finale against the Detroit Lions, per Stankevitz — which would be Jones's first game snaps since the injury. Watch those snaps, and whether any designed movement shows up in them; rosters cut to 53 the next day. We'll check after cut day.
_Data via nflverse._
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